Read to me, Brother!!

Matthew brings beginner reading books home from school that he must read every night. This night I told him that we needed to read after dinner, he said no, I'll read it now to Sam. So sure enough, Matthew got his book, sat down with Sam, and read the entire book perfectly to him. Why, oh why, can't all the moments between these two be like this!?!?!?!

Announcing the Newest Wagner Hockey Player - SAM

Sam has hit the ice. He is a really good skater so far. When he falls he can get back up. Now don't judge my parenting....his favorite thing to do was to eat the ice off the puck!! Whatever made him happy out there. He loves it. He asks everyday if we can go to the circle ice. I think he is calling it circle, because of the circles on the ice. He has been about four more times since these pictures were taken, so he has ditch the walker and is swizzling right along.

OMG! I'm on the ice - AND there is a picture of it!!!!!

I can't have a hockey post & not include Matthew. Here he is perfecting a hockey stop!

Raleigh, NC - Carolina Hurricanes

Kurt received his 40th birthday present 4 months early. On Valentine's Day we went to Raleigh, NC to see his friend from high school, Bret Hedican play. Well, turns out that he got hurt in the game before we flew out and didn't get to play. However, we got to visit with him in his box during the game against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Canes won!!! It was the cutest thing watching Kurt and Bret talk about hockey somewhat the same way that I see Matthew and his friends talk. Kurt learned a lot about the game and the way it is play at the level of the NHL. Imagine that, Kurt LEARNED something new about hockey!!!! Oh, did I tell you we met Bret's wife too, Kristy Yamaguchi?? Really nice people!!!

This is the RBC center - where the Canes play.

This is the practice that we got to watch. This was amazing. Once we could watch NHL players play in the same arena Kurt does - you can tell why they are in the NHL. Those guys are fast as Hell! I have no idea how you can get moving so fast on ice!!!

Then we changed our flight and got to see another game on Saturday against the Flordia Panthers. Canes won again!!!!

We had a really good time. Yes, even I had a really good time on my non-stop hockey weekend. It was great to see Kurt so happy!!!!

Now do you really think that is all he is going to get for his 40th birthday???

Valentine's Day Projects

I know these are a little old, but I'm trying to dig myself out of a hole. After everyone being sick on a different week. And me getting sick twice - we are all healthy now and starting to get back in the swing of things.

Here are the Valentine Day cards that the boys decided to make for their friends. They are actually phones with their picture in it and the little old fashion dot candies. I know you are asking if I did them or if they did. Well, I'll admit, I cut everything out, but they taped everything down. About half way through Matthew's 20, he asked if I could finish. I said no and we finished the next day.

Apparently they were a big hit with all the kids. Sam's friends liked calling him all day and Matt's friends loved the candy.

This is the box that Matthew made to take to school to collect his Valentine's from his friends. We had such a good time making it. We took a special trip to Michael's to buy the supplies to make it. He really does like Michael's and looking at all the different stickers they have. He chose sparkly motorcycles, sparkly letters for his name and ribbon that says "Happy Valentine's Day". He helped with the ribbon too - I used his finger to hold the knot down while I tied it.

I think the boys are now officially more creative than Kurt. Yea, I can mark that off my list of things I want to teach my boys to do!!!!!!

Happy Birthday to Me

Well, that was a good run for birthdays, I have officially had my last one....I'm now 39 FOREVER!!!!!!

Sammie missed the party, he fell asleep at 5:30pm and stayed asleep, even when I put him in his bed at 7pm. Here's hoping he doesn't wake up a 4am!!!!

What does yellow and blue icing make??????? Green tounges!!!!!

Wanna Dance?

After watching all the Superbowl commercials and laughing with Kurt about them, my all time favorite commercial came on during the Dallas Stars vs. Minnesota Wild game....check it out....

How did we survive????

In honor of my birthday eve, my sister-in-law sent this to me....it's so true....I'm going to grab my scissors now!!!!!

TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED the 1930's, 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's!!
First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant.They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes.
Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in babycribs covered with bright colored lead-based paints.
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.
As infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats,booster seats, seat belts or air bags.
Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat.
We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.
We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.
We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank Kool-aid madewith sugar, but we weren't overweight because,WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!
We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as wewere back when the streetlights came on. No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.
We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ridedown the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.
We did not have Play stations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVD's, nosurround-sound or CD's, no cell phones, no personal computers, noInternet or chat rooms.......WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!
We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.
We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.
We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and, although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.
We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them!
Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!
The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!
These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problemsolvers and inventors ever!
The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.
We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!
If YOU are one of them. CONGRATULATIONS!
You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated so much of our lives for our own good.
While you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave (and lucky) their parents were.
Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it?!

100 Days of School

For Matthew's 100th day of school, he had to find a collection of 100 items.

Believe it or not, we had 100 Army guys (actually we had 102)! For those of you who know Matthew you know how much he likes his guys....hockey, cowboys, indians, etc....any type of guy and he will play with them.

We gathered them all up and then counted them by 5's, then by 10's. I think Matthew may end up as good at math as he is at reading so far. Too bad his handwriting still needs a lot of work. But that may be OK - he could be a doctor!!!!

Hiking Lake Austin

Every so often during Winter, Lake Austin is drained so that weed control can take place. We decided to take a hike down in the river bed to see if we could find some treasures. All we found were a few giant clams, used hats, beer cans, and pecans (which turned out to be a fun snack). The boys had a lot of fun playing in the sand and throwing sticks.

First we went down beside Mansfield Dam, but there was just water, mud and a bunch of rocks. We were hoping to find some crawdads, but there were none.

Then we headed to the Steiner Ranch Lake Club and found that the center of the lake is very deep, but we were able to walk along the sides.

We hiked for about a mile, the boys were very tired on the way back to the car. We were afraid that we were going to end up having to carry them, but they were troopers and made it all the way home!!!!!

Superbowl XLII

Ok, I really like to watch the game, but I LOVE the commercials. Of course, with all the rowdies, I have to watch them again the next day.....here are my two favorites......they may just be because of the music in them......

Not one related to the Superbowl, but a hockey AMP commercial......too funny....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9wPi5TTxOQ